School’s lesson in diversity

As a child artist Lizo Pemba would use any material he could get his hands on to create the artwork he hoped would match up to his favourite artist – his grandfather George. Now, one of his pieces is adorning a wall at one of Port Elizabeth’s oldest schools, Collegiate High School for Girls.

Commissioned by the school in an effort to celebrate South Africa’s and the school’s diversity, the younger Pemba’s painting depicts a Xhosa wedding.

Speaking of his youth, Pemba said: “Those days under the apartheid regime were tough, especially for us artists – we would use just about anything to create pieces, such as red and blue pens.”

Pemba, 59, marks the tragic murder of Steve Biko as a turning point in his life and career, saying the event was as an eye-opener which alerted him to the political situation.

It was also the event that resulted in Pemba going into exile for eight years, forcing him to temporarily abandon his dream of being an artist like his grandfather.

“I decided to join the struggle, which saw me leaving the country via Lesotho to Zambia, where I was given the choice to study or join the army which was based in Angola,” he said.

As a staunch ANC supporter, he chose to join the ANC military wing, uMkhonto weSizwe.

Despite being in exile, he described his time in Luanda as one where he learnt more about art.

“My time in Angola was not as bleak as people describe it,” Pemba said.

“I met artists who formed Culture in Another South Africa and then I was later deployed into the Department of Information and Propaganda wing where we worked with Pallo Jordan.”
Although he lost much of the work he did outside South Africa, he speaks with pride of the pieces he created for the ANC.

“You see the current ANC emblems; we used to draw these by hand for posters and political campaigns but the high temperatures of Angola would melt the paint and create drip lines on the canvas – but we would never give up,” Pemba said.

He became an illustrator, graphic artist and cartoonist for newspapers like Umsebenzi (isiXhosa for Work) and a religious publication called Phakama (isiXhosa for Rise Up).

In 1988, the self-taught artist received funding from the Swedish government to study art in Zimbabwe and then, in 1991, he studied further at the University of Fort Hare for a BA in Fine Arts.

Pemba said his grandfather’s work has greatly influenced most of his art [but] “I, unlike him, focus on people and preserving history without forgetting the socioeconomic detail.

“If you look at the painting I did for Collegiate it is a traditional Xhosa wedding but it is based in the township perspective because contemporary townships now have RDP houses, not huts,” he said.

Although he now works for the Department of Arts and Culture, Pemba said his day began and ended with a paint brush in his hand, despite suffering from severe glaucoma which he says has brought deterioration in his work.

Collegiate High principal Melita Bagshaw said she was excited to have the painting displayed at the school and would, in time, like to display some of the pupils’ art alongside Pemba’s.

“As a part of celebrating our diversity, we commissioned a painting by a local artist.

“This was the scene chosen by the artist and reflects an important ceremony in the Xhosa culture,” she said.